Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A Sleeper City

Had the priviledge of enjoying Montgomery this past weekend (wedding of my wife's best friend) and was blown away! Maybe I've been so stinking sheltered...how had I missed this great place? I'd enjoyed Birmingham, Mobile, and even little 'ole Florence, but had skipped right over the capitol city of Alabama? I'm pleased to now tell you that this this city slicker has been awakened to the appeal of such an interesting community. Here's just some observations:

-Buildings and landscape...everything was virtually easy on the eyes, clean, green and beautiful, with a touch of character splashed in virutally everything it seemed. There's actually this really cool downtown area where they've brought in Dreamland BBQ, and are trying to rennovate this old, vintage alley between some buildings...can't wait to see what that becomes in the near future.

-Racial acceptance...see, I live in NW Houston, and the ethnicities seem to tolerate each other and not go much further--but most encounters I had personally or observed from a distance were VERY positive...it was ACCEPTANCE, and that was very surprising to me since my initial thought had been the opposite of the deep south...

-More churches than I can count...of all flavors, shapes, and sizes. I almost got the feeling that there are more beautiful old buildings with beautfiul old saints than there are total people to fill them. What's the future hold there? And if that's beginning to happen in Alabama, when will that trend hit even bigger cities? Maybe there's some urban sprawl guru who can shed some light...

-Attention, compassion, and general joy of children. Every restaurant or public place we took in, my kids were smiled at, greeted, spoken to, and encouraged. Let's face it, I believe my kids are UBER adorable, but still, it was pretty unique.